A 4,000-gallon coal ash spill in the North Branch Potomac River should serve as a nice reminder to politicians of the need to stop burning coal.

What's the best way to get Washington, D.C., to care about the myriad problems associated with coal and the waste created when it's burned? Dump it in their Cheerios.

Or at least their drinking water.

Over the weekend a pipe carrying coal ash slurry burst near a pulp and paper mill located in Luke, Maryland, spewing 4,000 gallons of the toxic brew into the North Branch Potomac River. The river eventually winds it's way down past Washington, D.C., and provides drinking water for millions of people.

The Obama Administration will propose new regulations that will oversee the storage and handling of coal ash waste by the end of the year. Hopefully the thought of a little arsenic and other heavy metals in their water will spur them to act a little quicker.

4,000 gallons isn't much in comparison to the BILLION gallons that exploded all over Harriman, Tenn., but it can be seen more as just another needle sticking into the side of the tragedy that is coal power.

Coal is the enemy of mankind, how many more reminders of that do we need?

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